Meg Cabot - Queen Of Babble: In The Big City

“Yeah.” My shoulders sagged with relief. “You’re probably right about that. Hey—” I glanced at her in some alarm. “We’re not, are we? I mean… you never felt about me the way you feel about Pat, did you?”

Please say no, I was praying.Please say no, please say no. Because I value Shari’s friendship more than anything, and if it turned out she was in love with me, well, how could we be friends anymore? You can’t be friends with someone who’s in love with you if you don’t love that person back the same way…

Shari regarded me with an expression I might almost have called sarcastic.

“Yes, Lizzie,” she said. “I have been in love with you since the first grade when you showed me your Batgirl Underoos. The only reason I’m with Pat is because I know I can’t have you because you stub bornly refuse to love me and not Luke. Now come over here and kiss me, you little minx.”

I blinked at her. And she burst out laughing.

“No, you idiot,” she said. “Although I love you dearly as a friend, I have never been romantically interested in you. You’re actually not my type.”

I don’t want to sound pejorative, but her tone seemed to imply that she couldn’t understand why anyone would be interested in me romantically.

I didn’t say so at the time, but I was kind of wondering the same thing. I mean, doesn’t Pat realize that Shari is an inveterate blanket hog (as I discovered to my disadvantage when we were forced to share a sleeping bag at camp that time those mean girls threw mine in the lake) and has, to my knowledge, never once returned a book she borrowed? It was a miracle that Chaz, a known bibliophile, even put up with her as long as he did. I purposely never loaned Shari my clothing, because I knew I’d never see it again.

Of course Shari never asked to borrow any of my clothing. My style is just a little too retro for her, I guess.

But, whatever.

“You have a type?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow. “Because you seem to cover a pretty wide range—”

“Primarily,” Shari interrupted, “I like people who can keep their mouths shut once in a while.”

“Well, then, it’s no wonder you and Chaz broke up,” I said, just as the elevator, groaning with the strain, finally arrived.

“Ha ha,” Shari said. Then, giving me a hug, she said, “Take care of him for me, will you? Don’t let him slide into one of his funks where he stays inside all day reading Heidegger and never ventures out except to buy booze. Promise?”

“Like you have to ask,” I said. “I love Chaz like the brother I never had. I’ll make sure to get Tiffany to invite him out with her and some of her model friends. That should cheer him up.”

“That ought to do it, all right,” Shari agreed.

And the elevator doors closed and she was gone.

And that was that.

Well, except for the part where now I can’t sleep a wink, because I keep replaying it all over and over in my head.

“Hey.” The word, spoken so softly beside me, causes me to jump. I turn my head. Luke is awake, and blinking at me sleepily.

“Sorry,” I whisper. “Did I wake you?” I hadn’t been making any noise. Had I managed to wake him with my noisy thoughts? I’ve read that couples can become so close that they can read each other’s minds.Ask me to marry you, Luke. Luke, ask me to marry you. Luke. I am your father… Oh no, wait—

“No,” he says. “It’s this damn metal bar—”

“Oh yeah. It’s killing me, too.”

“Sorry about this,” Luke says with a sigh. “We just have to put up with them for one more night and then they’ll be gone.”

“It’s all right,” I say. I can’t believe he’s worrying about me when he has something so much bigger to worry about—his mother’s secret affair, I mean.

Except of course he doesn’t know about that. Because I haven’t told him. How can I? He’s so happy his parents are back together.

And something like that could totally sour him against marriage forever. I mean, what if he concludes, from his mother’s catting about—not to mention Shari’s recent abandonment of Chaz, and his own ex-girlfriend’s leaving him for his own cousin —that women are incapable of fidelity?

And things between us have been going so well—familial visitations aside. Even having Tiffany and Raoul to Thanksgiving dinner didn’t prove the disaster I thought it would, as they provided a welcome distraction for Chaz, who seemed to take great pleasure in watching Tiffany gad about in her thigh-highs and catsuit—I really think Luke might have forgotten all about that whole “people our age don’t even know what love is” thing.

Maybe I’ll even be getting an extra-special present for Christmas. The kind that comes in a very small box.

Hey. You never know.

“Well,” Luke says, his lips suddenly in my hair, “I think you’re a trouper. You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty. And hey—did I mention that turkey you made was delicious?”

“Oh,” I say modestly. “Thanks.”

Well? He doesn’t need to know it came already cooked.

“I think you’re a keeper, Lizzie Nichols,” he says, his lips now moving lower than my hair, and toward some other parts of my body that can appreciate lips more than hair.

“Oh,” I say in a different voice. “Thanks!” A keeper! Why, that’s practically a marriage proposal. Calling someone a keeper is like saying you never want to throw them back into the dating pool for someone else to snatch instead. Right?

“And you’re sure,” he says, from down there, “that you and Shari never—”

I sit up and glare at him in the darkened room. “Luke! I told you! No!”

“Whatever!” he says with a laugh. “I’m just asking. You know Chaz is going to ask, too.”

“I told you.” I can’t believe this. “You can’t say anything to Chaz. Not until Shari’s told him. I wasn’t even supposed to say anything to you—”

Luke laughs—not very nicely, I might add. “Shari told you something and asked you to keep it a secret?”

“I am capable of keeping some things to myself, you know,” I say indignantly. Because, seriously… if he only knew what I’ve been keeping to myself since I moved in.

“I know,” he says with a laugh. “I’m just teasing you. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to him. But you know what Chaz is going to say.”

“What?” I ask, relenting—but only because he looks so handsome in the moonlight spilling in from the windows.

“That if Shari was going to decide to become a lesbian, why did she have to do it after they’d broken up?”

I yank the sheet up over the parts of my body he seems to be finding so interesting.

“For your information,” I say, “Shari is not a lesbian.”

“Bi, lesbian. Whatever. What’s with this?” He tugs at the sheet.

“What’s with the labels?” I demand, tugging back. “Why do people have to be defined by their sexual preference? Can’t Shari just be Shari?”

“Sure,” Luke says, looking taken aback. “Why are you being so defensive about this?”

“Because,” I say. “I don’t want people to call Shari my ‘lesbian friend.’ And I’m sure she doesn’t, either. Well, actually, I’m sure Shari doesn’t care. But that’s not the point. She’s just Shari. I don’t call Chaz your ‘heterosexual friend.’”

“Fine,” Luke says. “I’m sorry. I’ve never had my best friend’s girlfriend ditch him for another girl before. I’m a little confused at the moment.”

“Welcome to the club,” I say.

Luke rolls over to stare at the ceiling.

“Obviously,” he says after a moment’s silence, “there’s only one thing we can do.”

“What?” I ask suspiciously.

He shows me.

And, in the end, I have to admit—he has a point.

Which he makes—nice and emphatically, I might add.

Feeling the glove…

Some brides opt for a more formal look by donning gloves on the big day. Gloves come in many lengths, and can be the perfect accessory for the fashion conscious or merely traditional bride. They have a practical use, as well—brides who wear gloves certainly needn’t worry about their manicure… or smearing their own messy fingerprints on their pure white gown.

The most common types of bridal gloves are:

Opera Length—These long white gloves stretch from the fingertips to the upper arm.

Elbow length—Like the opera length, only these end just above the elbow.

Gauntlet—These kinds of gloves are hand-and-fingerless, covering only the forearm.

Fingerless—Just like the lace ones Madonna used to wear. Or the woolly ones Bob Cratchitt is often pictured wearing.

Wrist—These gloves cover the hand only, like ski gloves.

Gloves should be removed for the ring part of the ceremony (it is considered ill-bred to wear rings OVER glove fingers. If your glove does not open at the wrist, cut a small hole beneath the wedding finger of your left-hand glove so you can easily wiggle your finger through to receive the ring) and of course while dining.

Brides with very muscular arms or those wearing long sleeves should avoid gloves altogether.

LIZZIENICHOLSDESIGNS™

The Monday after Thanksgiving, we got slammed at the Pendergast, Loughlin, and Flynn reception desk. I don’t know if there have ever been any official studies on this, but I would say, just judging from my own observations, divorce requests definitely go up after a long holiday weekend.

A sentiment with which I could actually sympathize, having spent mine with the de Villierses… who are all very charming people, but not without their annoying quirks. Like Mrs. de Villiers’s annoying quirk of talking about Dominique, Luke’s ex, and how happy she and Blaine, Luke’s cousin, are. Apparently Dominique is doing a great job managing Blaine’s financial affairs… and he needs the help, because his band, Satan’s Shadow, is superhot on the indie metal circuit.